Locating lost civilizations

Did you think the human race has explored all places except for the ocean bottoms and outer space? Think again. Deep in the jungles of Central America there is uncharted territory — dangerous territory!

“The Lost City of the Monkey Gods” takes us on an adventure to discover a lost civilization buried so deep in the rainforest that no one has set foot in them for five centuries. So apparently untouched that a quail came right up to Woody (an ex-soldier, expert in jungle warfare and survival) pecking at the dirt, and a wild pig also wandered through unconcerned by the presence of humans. Spider monkeys were another sign of uninhabited areas; they normally flee at the sight of humans but they would stay and stare. The author stated, “It amazed me that a valley so primeval and unspoiled could still exist in the twenty-first century. It was truly a lost world, a place that did not want us where we did not belong.”

Preston’s book consists of three sections. In part one he retells the legend of the lost city, called “Ciudad Blanca” the White City, also referred to as the Lost City of the Monkey God. This is not a Mayan city but a contemporary pre-Columbian civilization. He introduces you to those who are a part of the expedition: scientists, photographers, film producers, archaeologists, and himself a writer. All with varying experience in wilderness skills. Very few legitimate scientists had ever attempted to find the lost city but quite a few fake and fraudulent ones had claimed to have been in the city.

In the second part Preston relates the story of the 2015 expedition and follow-up. New top-secret technology made it possible to locate the city. A type of radar, lidar (light detection and ranging), help to uncover evidence of a city by using a ground penetrating method to “see” through the rainforest cover. They were able to see rectangular features and long, pyramid-like mounds arranged in squares, which covered an area of hundreds of acres. Now all they had to do was “ground truth” their find. The telling of the expedition is very engrossing. The first night out Preston encounters a giant fer-de-lance, a deadly pit viper less than three feet away. Woody wrestles the snake to the ground as the six-foot-long viper spews venom, striking in every direction. Later that night Preston awoke to see an entire ground area glistening with cockroaches and jaguars were heard prowling past their tents.

The third section looks at the cause of the disappearance of the lost civilization. Was it an epidemic disease brought by the Europeans or a tropical disease, or perhaps a catastrophe that eradicated the mysterious civilization around A.D. 1500? Every member of the 2015 expedition was exposed to leishmaniasis, which is incurable but can be treated with a drug. It is contracted by a sand-fly bite and starts as a simple sore. But when it moves to the face, ulcers eat away the nose and lips from the inside before the parasite devours the bones, upper jaw and teeth. Could this have been the demise of the civilization? He also visits the topic of global warming and how the southern door of the United States has opened to many other diseases like Zika, West Nile virus, chikungunya and dengue fever.

Great eyewitness account of one of the astounding discoveries of our time; Douglas Preston, an author of bestselling thrillers and non-fiction, writes a page-turning book to pique your interest in exploration and discovery. The author was on assignment from National Geographic and has written a fascinating first-person account of the journey.